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<title>Ride To Heaven</title>
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<h1>Ride To Heaven
<br>
</h1>
<h2>CS418 Final Project - Spring 1996
<br>
<a>Kartik Kapadia</a>
 
<br>
<a>Amith Yamasani
<br>
</a>
</h2>
<br>
<h3>Storyline
<br>
</h3>
This is a simulation of a magnetic levitation train travelling over the sea
 (ofcourse on tracks). This setting is some time in the future when Ithaca gets
 submerged under the sea and everyone lives under water, surfacing only to
 catch the Ithaca Transit Train. The journey is very exciting with a lot of
 scenic sights along the way. So sit back, relax and enjoy the ride - you may
 never come back......
<br>
<br>
<h3>Now for some technical stuff:
<br>
</h3>
<br>We have used most of the concepts that we learned in CS 417/418 as well as
 some tricks of our own. This includes parametric surfaces, hierarchical
 modelling, texture mapping, physics based animation, fractals, etc.
<br>
<br>The DX program is structured in a modular way, with macros for almost all
 objects in the scene. The program itself is hierarchical in nature. Some of
 the interesting modelling that we have done is :
<br>
<br>
<h4>Dolphin
<br>
</h4>
We modelled a realistic looking dolphin (well almost!) after hours of web
 surfing for dolphins. The main body as well as the fins and beak were made
 from parametric surfaces. We started with a kind of cylindrical surface,
 flattened it a bit and then modified the radii at different points using a
 manually entered list of numbers. A random colormap gave it a better
 appearance. In order to warp the hierarchically modelled object, it was
 necessary to write our own transforms which physically alter the vertices and
 then warp them.
<br>
<br>
<img src="Ride.Amith.Kartik.CS418.dolphin.gif">
<h4>Fractal Tree
<br>
</h4>
We built a recursive tree using loop structures in DX. The method used was
 simple and does not support much randomness in the structure of the tree. But
 the effect is good enough for a reasonably complex scene. The basic idea is to
 make a simple branch, duplicate it around an axis and cache this structure for
 the next generation branch (branch made up of smaller branches).
<br>
<br>
<h4>Train</h4>
The train is parametrically modelled, with tinted glass windows and sliding
 doors. It is a very good example of hierarchical modelling. It has volume
 rendered flames for jets on the engine. The motion of the train is controlled
 by the equation S=ut+1/2 a.t^2. It decelerates to stop at the station and then
 accelerates off into space (courtesy, the booster jets). Care was taken to
 align the train carriages on the tracks at all times. 
<br>
<br>
<img src="Ride.Amith.Kartik.CS418.train.gif">
<h4>Texture maps
<br>
</h4>
We used plenty of texture mapping to enhance the visual effects, though it was
 expensive in terms of computing power.
<br>
<br>
<img src="Ride.Amith.Kartik.CS418.island.gif">
<h4>Camera movement 
<br>
</h4>
This was simplified by specifying key positions and then in-betweening them to
 get the actual To and From positions. 
<br>
<br>
<img src="Ride.Amith.Kartik.CS418.divider.gif" width=605 height=24>
<br>
<br>
<br>TIME: 13:42:42
<br>DATE: 04/24/96
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